


A Good Excuse

by anr



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003) RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anr/pseuds/anr
Summary: Five times Katee and Jamie kissed.
Relationships: Jamie Bamber/Katee Sackhoff
Comments: 14
Kudos: 15
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	A Good Excuse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tree/gifts).



> Thanks to dirty_diana for the beta.

  


* * *

  


The first time they kiss, there's no cameras, no director, no set. There's not even a script they can claim they're rehearsing for (though, if the rumours are to be believed, there may be before the end of the season).

No, all there is... is them. And alcohol. And a dark corner in a dark club on a dark night, Tahmoh the birthday boy having long since abandoned them to their own devices, and Jamie's skin tantalisingly warm under her palms as he pulls her further into the shadows with him.

She goes willingly.

  


* * *

  


They're about a third through filming the back half when there's an impromptu get-together at that new Italian place over in West Van. Normally Katee wouldn't have even considered a night out so early in the week but Aaron swore he had an inside scoop on finale storylines and when Tahmoh and James and Nicki and Tricia and, god, practically _everyone_ decided it was time to celebrate... well, she couldn't say no.

Can't say no to a lot of things, apparently, which is probably why she agrees to let Jamie drive her back to the lot to collect her car after. It's late, after midnight at least, and as he pulls up next to her spot at the ass-end of the parking lot, she's already regretting having stayed out so late. Four hours and change is not going to be nearly enough sleep for her, not for a Wednesday morning, and she tells Jamie as much as he puts his car into park and kills the ignition.

"So, what you're saying is, both Kara and Lee will be as miserable as fuck tomorrow," he summarises, and then rolls his eyes. "Gee, what else is new?"

She slaps his shoulder. "Shut up," she says, but she's laughing as she says it, and the banter is good, and welcome, and reminds her that no matter what happens on the show -- and if Aaron's sources are correct about what's in store for good ol' Apollo and Starbuck, well, _fuck_ \-- she and Jamie are friends.

But then he smiles back, that smile that he only ever seems to give to _her_ , and she remembers they're other things as well. Things she can't define out loud, and probably shouldn't want to if she wants her career to survive this show. (What happens in a co-stars trailer, _stays_ in a co-stars trailer.)

"Jamie --" she says, and she means it as a warning, she does, but he's leaning in closer and...

She meets him halfway.

He tastes like oregano, and the Sangiovese they were drinking, and she kisses him without any hesitation, with just a little desperation, because it's late, _really_ late, and as much as she's wanted to kiss him all night, she knows they can't take this any further...

His mouth leaves her, moving to the side of her neck. "Tomorrow night?" he asks.

Shuddering, she nods. " _Definitely_."

  


* * *

  


There's a rest stop, once.

Halfway to Whistler, with Ron and crew waiting for them on location a dozen miles up the road, and her knees pressing against his hips as she straddles him in the back seat of her car, a litany of _god_ , _more_ and _harder_ spilling from her lips.

His palm heavy on the small of her back, her name on repeat, "Katee, Katee, Katee," syllables blurring unrecognisably as he kisses her, again and again, his hand dragging along the outside of her thigh and up to her waist, fingers digging in.

She arches back as best as she can, tensing, and catches her reflection in the back window, like a movie she'd never seen before but nevertheless knows by heart, and looks away, looks back to him just in time to see the expression on his face as he looks up at her and --

Closing her eyes, she breaks first.

  


* * *

  


Katee ends things the week before the Christmas break finishes and they're all due back on set.

It's probably not the smartest way to start a new filming schedule with her co-star, professionally speaking, but if she'd been concerned at all about her career, she never would have started sleeping with him in the first place.

They have sex first. Slow, and almost sweet, and so very, very different from that first time, all those months ago, because she knows exactly who he is now and that this has nothing to do with their characters on the show. He doesn't stop kissing her the entire time, his lips skimming her neck, her shoulder, her mouth, again and again and again, and it's breathtaking in a way his body moving with hers just can't quite match.

But it doesn't change her mind.

She waits until after before saying anything though. Waits for him to have finished dressing, because this is going to be cruel enough as it is and she doesn't hate him enough to make him hear it naked.

Truth be told, she doesn't hate him at all. That's kinda the problem.

"It's over," she says bluntly, when he's done buttoning his shirt. Then, into the silence that follows: "We're not going to do this anymore."

She's careful with her words, is careful not to say, _we can't_ , because they've already proven, time and time again, that they _can_.

He's sitting on the bed, shoelaces still untied, and he looks up at her with something that might be surprise on his features. His tone, however, is one-hundred-percent neutral. "I don't get a say in this?" She shakes her head and he swallows, and glances away. "I see."

"No." Her fingers may be unsteady as they dig into her dresser and remove the plastic stick, but her voice isn't, and she takes comfort in that even as he looks up again to see what she's retrieved. "You don't."

He whitens instantly, blood draining from his features, and she finds it sad that only _now_ , only when it's all _ending_ , does she finally know what he's thinking. She watches the play of consequences and options flashing in his eyes and knows each and every one of them personally, knows they're the same thoughts that tried to drown her, last week, as she sat on the edge of her bathtub and _prayed_.

"It's negative," she says quickly, quietly, before he can say something he'll regret even more, and he makes a choking sound, like he can't quite breathe.

"Then _why_?"

She looks away.

_Because it might not have been._

_Because a part of me actually wanted that with you -- wanted the scandal, and the consequences, and the eventual hopefully-happily-ever-after ending -- and now pretending that's even remotely possible just hurts too fucking much._

_Because this was never going to end well, but at least this way it might end quietly._

_Because I love you and I think that's the biggest mistake of all._

She pushes away from the dresser. "I have to go," she says, and she knows that's not an answer but she doesn't care. Doesn't _want_ to care. "I need to take Meatball for a walk."

"Katee, I --"

Almost at the door. She takes pride in the fact that she's not crying. "You can let yourself out."

"I, I think I love you. I --"

She falters, just a little, and steadies herself with a hand on the doorjamb. Her eyes close. "I know," she whispers, and for one beautiful, perfect moment that's almost, _almost_ enough to change her mind...

But she can't. She _can't_.

Straightening, she squares her shoulders and opens her eyes. Bites her bottom lip, but only briefly. "I'll see you Monday, yeah?"

No response at first, and she counts each broken heartbeat of silence until, "yeah," he repeats, almost too softly for her to hear. "Monday."

She leaves first.

  


* * *

  


He tells her he's getting a divorce on the first day back of the last season of the show, and even though it's possible he's talking about his character -- she may not have actually been there for the last couple of episodes last year but Ron still had had the scripts forwarded to her so that she could stay up to date with the plotlines -- she knows he's not.

He's getting a divorce.

 _Jamie_ is.

She clears her throat. "Because of...?" she says, gesturing abortively between the two of them.

He grimaces a little. "Not entirely. I mean, the underlying issues, no. But the parts where how I feel about you... well."

Not the greatest answer, but -- not the worst, either, all things considered, and a dozen responses flash through her brain, ranging mostly from indignant to indifferent, but what she says is, "feel?" She licks her lips. "Or felt?"

"Feel." He takes two steps closer. "Definitely feel. Katee -- _I love you_."

 _Oh_.

She'd always wondered what that would be like, to hear him say that to her outside of that horrible afternoon in her bedroom; to hear him say it, and mean it, and for her to _believe_ him, and.

She breaches the distance between them, and smiles, and kisses him once, twice, and then again. "I love you, too."

  


* * *

The End

**Author's Note:**

> [anr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anr) | [anr](https://anr.livejournal.com) | [anr](https://anr.dreamwidth.org) | [anr](https://pinboard.in/u:anr) | [anretc](https://anretc.tumblr.com)


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